Designed to empower students as independent and collaborative learners in my classroom, student learning teams draw on Alan November’s notion of Digital Learning Farms and John Hunter’s World Peace Game. In short, students work in teams to solve problems and collaborate on projects related to our learning in Language Arts. Students are encouraged to identify real problems to solve and to use critical thinking to address those problems, thus teaching them the skills of designing and managing their own learning in ways that will be enormously beneficial to them in the future. In the short term, however, the Student Learning Teams involve students as active and engaged participants and valued creators in the learning of the course.
First Quarter:
Students worked in teams based on "job" assignments: Reader-Librarians, Cultural Anthropologists, Learning Specialists, and Resource Managers. Within these teams, groups of students worked to fill a specific need for the course, such as keeping the classroom library in order and selecting a book for the entire class to read together. This was an introduction to working in groups for an authentic purpose. Teams met approximately every 12 school days in our rotating schedule. They wrote goals, coordinated their projects, and produced a self-evaluation. Some teams produced course materials or made curricular recommendations.
Second Quarter:
Students viewed discussed John Hunter's TED Talk. They brainstormed issues they wished to address regarding learning in Language Arts (and learning generally), identified behavior issues that got in the way of their effectiveness as teams, and generated ideas for jobs that had meaning for them. They reflected orally and in writing about how to restructure the teams to make them more productive and meaningful.
Third Quarter:
New learning teams have been formed. Following John Hunter's model and keeping in mind the students' suggestions, I appointed CEOs of Learning, who then interviewed and selected "talent" to fill out their Student Learning Teams. Students who interviewed wrote profiles and thank-you letters to share with their prospective CEOs. CEOs wrote vision statements for their teams. Some students even wrote more formal resumes. Students practiced public speaking and presentation of ideas on both sides of the interview process. CEOs met and coordinated team selection to create the most effective teams. Teams will now meet on all double-block days in our six-day rotating schedule. They will write a report or update on their contributions to the team project by the time of the next team meeting. Team reports are posted on a wiki for this purpose in our Edublogs space. Students will have an opportunity to discuss and comment on these reports online.
Students understand that they can be asked to leave a team if they do not do their share of the work or if they interfere with the work of the group. Students who leave a team will need to produce a project on their own or work on a project assigned by the teacher. If someone feels he or she has been removed from a team unfairly, he or she can appeal to the teacher. CEOs can also be replaced if their teams do not feel that they are working effectively and productively. In all cases, I will work to mediate disputes and help students find ways to work together before resorting to any changes.
Ongoing:
Students continue to define their projects and roles and report their work on the Edublogs wiki for their team. Soon they will begin conducting research to better understand the problems they wish to solve and to learn the skills and information needed to respond. Some students may develop projects that involve specific technological tools, in which case, parental permission will be secured. All teams will need to produce evidence of achieving their goals sometime in May.
Student Learning Teams and Language Arts
The National Council of Teachers of English, joining forces with Partnership for 21st Century Learning in 2008 recommended these skills for 21st Century learners: creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, information literacy, and media literacy (see Katie Ash’s article for Education Week, Dec. 23, 2008). I would add the following skills as critical to any student’s success: meta-cognitive skills in reflection and learning how to learn; social-personal skills in empathy, responsibility, accountability, and perseverance. In addition, I believe a new skill has emerged as a priority as we have all moved into digital age: transparency.
All of these skills are addressed by my students’ work in learning teams. Already they have taken on real-life communications (orally and in writing) by writing profiles and interviewing for team selection. They have stepped up to solve real problems, thinking fast on their feet in their interviews, forming their teams and defining the scope of their projects, and finding a purpose for their work together. They have reported on their meetings and developing ideas. They are starting to create and design “branding” materials for their teams.
Students are positioning themselves to innovate new ways of approaching language arts learning in the middle grades. They will create and produce actual movies, web pages, and other curricular materials to address the concerns they identify together. They will work together to solve the problems that are closest to their every-day lives – the way they learn in school. They will help one another become better learners in the long run.
In addition, they are being held accountable by their teams and their peers in a transparent way by reporting and documenting their progress. They don’t know it yet, but they will build their information literacy skills by finding, reviewing, and sharing resources. They will also evaluate the best tools for communicating and sharing their learning with others.
Students have reflected openly about their learning, orally and in writing, and they are opening their eyes to exploring new ways to learn on their own. In the process, they are employing empathy and showing true understanding of their peers, and they are modeling the kind of commitment and responsibility we see as the foundation of a strong work ethic and a commitment to lifelong learning.
First Quarter:
Students worked in teams based on "job" assignments: Reader-Librarians, Cultural Anthropologists, Learning Specialists, and Resource Managers. Within these teams, groups of students worked to fill a specific need for the course, such as keeping the classroom library in order and selecting a book for the entire class to read together. This was an introduction to working in groups for an authentic purpose. Teams met approximately every 12 school days in our rotating schedule. They wrote goals, coordinated their projects, and produced a self-evaluation. Some teams produced course materials or made curricular recommendations.
Second Quarter:
Students viewed discussed John Hunter's TED Talk. They brainstormed issues they wished to address regarding learning in Language Arts (and learning generally), identified behavior issues that got in the way of their effectiveness as teams, and generated ideas for jobs that had meaning for them. They reflected orally and in writing about how to restructure the teams to make them more productive and meaningful.
Third Quarter:
New learning teams have been formed. Following John Hunter's model and keeping in mind the students' suggestions, I appointed CEOs of Learning, who then interviewed and selected "talent" to fill out their Student Learning Teams. Students who interviewed wrote profiles and thank-you letters to share with their prospective CEOs. CEOs wrote vision statements for their teams. Some students even wrote more formal resumes. Students practiced public speaking and presentation of ideas on both sides of the interview process. CEOs met and coordinated team selection to create the most effective teams. Teams will now meet on all double-block days in our six-day rotating schedule. They will write a report or update on their contributions to the team project by the time of the next team meeting. Team reports are posted on a wiki for this purpose in our Edublogs space. Students will have an opportunity to discuss and comment on these reports online.
Students understand that they can be asked to leave a team if they do not do their share of the work or if they interfere with the work of the group. Students who leave a team will need to produce a project on their own or work on a project assigned by the teacher. If someone feels he or she has been removed from a team unfairly, he or she can appeal to the teacher. CEOs can also be replaced if their teams do not feel that they are working effectively and productively. In all cases, I will work to mediate disputes and help students find ways to work together before resorting to any changes.
Ongoing:
Students continue to define their projects and roles and report their work on the Edublogs wiki for their team. Soon they will begin conducting research to better understand the problems they wish to solve and to learn the skills and information needed to respond. Some students may develop projects that involve specific technological tools, in which case, parental permission will be secured. All teams will need to produce evidence of achieving their goals sometime in May.
Student Learning Teams and Language Arts
The National Council of Teachers of English, joining forces with Partnership for 21st Century Learning in 2008 recommended these skills for 21st Century learners: creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, information literacy, and media literacy (see Katie Ash’s article for Education Week, Dec. 23, 2008). I would add the following skills as critical to any student’s success: meta-cognitive skills in reflection and learning how to learn; social-personal skills in empathy, responsibility, accountability, and perseverance. In addition, I believe a new skill has emerged as a priority as we have all moved into digital age: transparency.
All of these skills are addressed by my students’ work in learning teams. Already they have taken on real-life communications (orally and in writing) by writing profiles and interviewing for team selection. They have stepped up to solve real problems, thinking fast on their feet in their interviews, forming their teams and defining the scope of their projects, and finding a purpose for their work together. They have reported on their meetings and developing ideas. They are starting to create and design “branding” materials for their teams.
Students are positioning themselves to innovate new ways of approaching language arts learning in the middle grades. They will create and produce actual movies, web pages, and other curricular materials to address the concerns they identify together. They will work together to solve the problems that are closest to their every-day lives – the way they learn in school. They will help one another become better learners in the long run.
In addition, they are being held accountable by their teams and their peers in a transparent way by reporting and documenting their progress. They don’t know it yet, but they will build their information literacy skills by finding, reviewing, and sharing resources. They will also evaluate the best tools for communicating and sharing their learning with others.
Students have reflected openly about their learning, orally and in writing, and they are opening their eyes to exploring new ways to learn on their own. In the process, they are employing empathy and showing true understanding of their peers, and they are modeling the kind of commitment and responsibility we see as the foundation of a strong work ethic and a commitment to lifelong learning.